Ted Kennedy Remembers His Slain Brothers

[Khephra]

BOSTON -- U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy remembered his slain brothers Sunday, saying he felt loss, but also inspiration, when thinking of them.

Kennedy, D-Mass., the influential liberal who has served in Congress for four decades, was asked on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation" about his thoughts as the 40th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination approached on Saturday.

Kennedy said he felt a "continued deep-seated sense of loss" from the deaths of his brothers and other family members.

more.......

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-edward-kennedy-jfk,0,5390566.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[JailBush]

1. It's a horrible thing to say, but have you ever pondered the

possibility that JFK's assassination was a GOOD thing?

I was in elementary school at the time and was very shaken up. JFK still looms as an icon of virtue in my mind.

But intelligent adults ask tough questions, and I'm not entirely certain I know what JFK was really all about. More important, the Kennedy's were America's most powerful family, and it's hard to imagine how powerful they would be today if JFK had survived.

Given the damage that has been wrought by the Bush dynasty - the all the Kennedys have done to fight them (not), I can't help but wonder how America might have fared under a Kennedy dynasty.

Imagine if John F. Kennedy was semi-retired, similar to George Bush Senior, Ted Kennedy was Governor of Massachusetts, another Kennedy was Governor of Texas, there were three or four Kennedy senators and Maria Shriver married Dick Gephardt, instead of that other Nazi. If they were all good people, fantastic. If not...

[La_Serpiente]

2. I would never

entertain with the idea that the assasination of Kennedy was good thing.

If JFK and Robert were still alive today, we would have a much different world I believe. One that was shaped by their policies instead of that of Nixon and quite possibly Reagan.

[JailBush]

6. I hope so...

"If JFK and Robert were still alive today, we would have a much different world I believe. One that was shaped by their policies instead of that of Nixon and quite possibly Reagan."

I hope so, but I'm not absolutely certain. Would our relations with Cuba be better if JFK was still alive? Would we be entangled with the World Trade Organization? What has Ted Kennedy done to stand up to the "Education Mafia"? Would Maria Shriver have married Arnold the Nazi?

I'd greatly prefer JFK over Nixon or Reagan, but if the ENTIRE FAMILY was even more powerful than the Bush clan, we could be in big trouble if they weren't squeaky clean - and I have my doubts.

[baby_bear]

22. BFEE already had plenty of power then.

But it didn't hurt to have JFK and RFK knocked off. Do you know where G.H.W. Bush was the day JFK was assassinated, JailBush?

Look into it, if you don't. And be afraid, very afraid.

s_m

[joanski01]

3. I worked in JFK's administration,

and his assassination was NOT a good thing. What a dreadful thing to say!

[metisnation]

21. creepy

666th definately not!

[CatWoman]

4. Please don't take this the wrong way

but are you on crack?

[FredScuttle]

7. When you preface something with "It's a horrible thing to say, but..."

it's usually a good idea not to finish the thought

[bkbk]

8. JFK

Yes, it is a horrible thing to say and I'll say another. I trace what has happened to our country back to that day in November 1963.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. thank you, bkbk

I agree. (And welcome!)

It's because the enemies of liberal democracy got away with that, that they've gotten away with so much more.

[newyawker99]

23. Hi bkbk!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast

[JailBush]

10. Or I could have prefaced my statement with this:

WARNING: The following comment is for mature adults only.

JFK evokes nostalgia in me, too. I grew up in that era, and I agree that everything went to Hell after he was assassinated.

But I think there's a danger in idolizing people to the extent that we don't acknowledge their faults - or don't acknowledge that they could even HAVE faults.

I'm not entirely certain what was going behind the scenes back then - few people are. But I do know that politically powerful families can be very dangerous, and I'm not entirely thrilled with the antics of some contemporary Kennedys.

Then again, JFK might have kept the rest of his clan in line, if he was still alive. He was truly inspirational - but how much substance behind the glamor?

[FredScuttle]

28. "mature adults only"?

Are you implying that, because we take issue with your suggestion that JFK's assassination was possibly good for the nation, we're being childish?

How about this...I think you're full of poo-poo. That erudite enough for you?

[PAMod]

9. There wasn't anything good about his death.

Our country still hasn't found its way back to the pathway of promise and hope, not even 40 years later.

JFK wasn't perfect by any stretch, but he made us want to be a better country - to achieve things for humanity. Inspiration is a difficult commodity to find & elect - and we had it, only to see it die on an American city street in peacetime.

It is depressing me and I wasn't even born when it happened.

[JailBush]

14. Philosophically, we dropped the ball - not the government.

It was American's responsibility to keep JFK's legacy alive - and I'm talking primarily about his inspirational qualities and rhetoric, because I don't completely understand his politics.

But I'm tired of hearing people moan about how America was lost when JFK was assassinated. How can an entire nation be so dependent on one individual, no matter how talented? Are we so helpless, we can't do anything but memorialize JFK?

Kennedy commanded, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." I'd give my right arm for half a dozen people who applied that philosophy to their local school board.

[FredScuttle]

25. The only good thing that resulted from JFK's assassination...

was the end of Vaughn Meader's career

[saigon68]

13. If either Bobby or Jack was President in 1964 / 1968

A lot of my friends would not have died in Viet-Nam!!!!!

[Minstrel Boy]

17. This is possibly the most

fucked-up thing I've read here.

The Kennedys were not America's most powerful family, but the Kennedys did threaten those who were more powerful: old Eastern establishment clans like the Rockefellers and emerging oil dynasties like the Hunts.

JFK was leaving Vietnam, entering detente with the Soviets and pursuing back-channel rapproachement with Cuba. RFK was the first Attorney General to seriously attack organized crime, much to the chagrin of J Edgar Hoover and Carlos Marcello. And by the time of his murder, Robert had moved considerably further to the left than John.

It would have been a different America had they lived. Which is precisely why they had to die.

[playahata1]

24. You wrote:

<<<The Kennedys were not America's most powerful family, but the Kennedys did threaten those who were more powerful: old Eastern establishment clans like the Rockefellers and emerging oil dynasties like the Hunts.>>>

And I'll tell you (at least part of the reason) why: The Kennedys were not WASP's. Much of the flak they have caught has to do with their being Irish Catholic. Joe Kennedy summed it up best; he was quoted as saying: "I was born in this country. My children were born in this country. What the hell more do I have to do to be an American?"

[hlthe2b]

19. Both JFK and RFK were flawed human beings... BUT

I do belive that they were sincere in their beliefs and that their commitment to improving the lot for all Americans was genuine and sincere. You could NEVER, EVER, EVER convince me that the Kennedys would have done to America what the Bush clan is doing now.

I can not fathom the possibility that you put forth.

[Chomskyite]

27. The loss of JFK and RFK are to the US

. . . as the loss of Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon have been for music. We have never recovered.

[peacetalksforall]

5. JFK was about inspiration and hope and a new way of looking at the world.

No one can assess him or his administration outside the context of the political legacy of the times and certainly not within the context of our education and insights into the ways of the government since his murder. It was another era. No one can mix and cross.

The CIA was still young, but lethal. The FBI was mature and lethal. They tricked him in more ways than we can probably ever know.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. You just watched the History Channel's show on Kennedy

hosted by Phil?

If not, you just came up with the same points that were made at the end of the show (which I give a hearty thumbs up to).

[peacetalksforall]

16. No, I'm at work and taking a break.

If they are saying what I said, then I must be right in my feelings. I've been thinking about him and learning about the way we do things for forty years - as far as the CIA and FBI go.

[peacetalksforall]

18. And to rant...

We lost our innocence of trust 40 years ago. 'They' took advantage of our innocence by killing him in an open car. 'They' did it with drama in front of his wife. Just like they did it to another President who offered inspiration and hope. And now our hope is just crawling along. The killing of America didn't happen by foreigners with Pearl Harbor or 9-11-01, it started by our own, of our own, for a few.

[Minstrel Boy]

20. nice rant.

The real message of the 60s: Yeah, we killed your leaders. What do you think you can do about it?

[tom_paine]

26. I'm afraid I agree completely, MinstrelBoy

And even today, though it is far more open (except the assassinations, the Busheviks have learned that blowing people's heads off might be swift and sure, but it creates martyrs...), the only operative question the Busheviks ask is

What do you think you can do about it?

Yes, they killed and keep on killing the strong leaders who oppose them, or like Heinz and Tower, those who defy them.

(of course, there's also the added benefit in knocking off a Senator who's death will hasten the transition to a Bushevik Toady, such as Heinz lead to Santorum, Carnahan to Talent, and Wellstone to Coleman)

[Matilda]

29. I remember JFK too, and the feeling of hope

and confidence there was in him as a leader, not just of the U.S.
but of the world. He wasn't perfect, but he was highly intelligent,
and well-travelled, so there was a breadth and depth of knowledge
and understanding that he was able to bring to the White House. And
the style, the charm and the wit added to the mix didn't do him any
harm when it came to negotiating with some of the toughest leaders
in the world. When he died, even Premier Khruschev appeared to be
genuinely upset. And one thing I have always remembered about him
was that he donated his Presidential salary to charity, because he
said he didn't need it. Compare that to the money-hungry grub
currently in the White House!

Whatever his personal faults and failings, and notwithstanding some
of the shady dealings that old Joe Kennedy had been involved in,
JFK had the knack of inspiring other people to strive for the very
highest ideals, and that is a large part of what great leadership
is about. The cold cynicism behind his assassination did change
things - made us realise that the bad guys can win. And the deaths
of Bobby and Martin Luther King cemented that feeling that good
would never triumph - if it doesn't make people cynical, it does
take away hope, and that's what was lost back then.

[goforit]

15. Hmmmm.............I wonder if Ted ever thought that Poppy could .....

have been in on it, if not master minded the whole thing?

And to think too, that Hinkley might get out of the psych
Chamber...........And he and his family are great long time friends of the Bush's

:tinfoilhat:

[DemonFighterLives]

30. We have been living with lies ever since

Things would have been very different if those guys were not whacked. Nothing good came of it.:argh:

[Sven77]

31. military takeover

The day that kennedy was killed the military took over this country and has been running it ever since. JFK was going to stop the Vietnam War and be a president for the people.

Just listen to some speaches like President John F. Kennedy - Inaugural Address, John F Kennedy 1963 Assasination - KBOX Radio Dallas (1963),Kennedy, John F - Assassinated, and Edward Kennedy - Eulogy For Robert F. Kennedy. It brings tears to my eyes.